Cavaliers: J.J. Hickson is in a free fall

Coach Byron Scott's overhaul of the starting lineup and rotation was done out of necessity.

When a team loses six games in a row, the coach will try about anything to change their fortunes.

He benched both his starting forwards -- J.J. Hickson and Joey Graham -- and inserted Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker against Chicago on Wednesday. Scott also started Daniel Gibson at shooting guard.

Unfortunately, cold shooting and some costly turnovers down the stretch resulted in an 88-83 loss to the Bulls.

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"I just wanted to change it up, all the way around -- the starting team, guys coming off the bench," Scott said. "We didn't get the outcome that we were looking for, but again that's something to build on because I thought the guys played hard for the first time in a while, for 48 solid minutes."

Hickson was the team's leading scorer before his game ran amok. Scott complained about Hickson's rebounding in the media after the Indiana game on Nov. 13. Hickson hasn't been the same since.

The 6-foot-9, 242-pounder thought he had responded with a big night in Philadelphia on Tuesday when he scored 18 points. But he wasn't rewarded by any means. He was benched.

Hickson said he was informed about the controversial move right before tipoff on Wednesday.

"I didn't know about it until they went over the matchups," he said.

When he wasn't matched up against Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer, the message was loud and clear: He was no longer the starting power forward.

Scott said he'll stick with the new lineup for at least a week. Then, if it's not working, he might change it again.

Jamison missed some time earlier in the season with a sore knee. Since he's been healthy, his numbers have been soaring. He's up to 12.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He led the Cavs with 21 points in the Bulls game.

But Hickson appeared to be the centerpiece of the team. Now, he has no idea where he stands.

"I just want to play basketball," he said. "It's no secret that me and Antawn are two competitive basketball players. We both want to play and both deserve to play.

"It's going to be tough as a head coach. As a coach, he gets paid to make those decisions. That's the decision he went with. We are all in competition for minutes. We all want to play."

Hickson had a brief conversation with his coach.

"He said for me to be professional about it and deal with it," he said.

He said he thinks he knows what it will take for him to get back in the coach's good graces.

"I guess rebounding and play harder, which I did (on Tuesday in Philadelphia)," Hickson said.

Jamison, 34, played 34 minutes against the Bulls. Hickson was limited to nine scoreless minutes.

"It was good to get the opportunity to play a little bit," Jamison said. "The most important thing was to just try to get a win. In crunch time, we weren't able to finish the game."

The 6-9, 235-pounder said the Cavs (7-15) must show character in these tough times. They've lost six in a row heading on a difficult four-game road trip that starts Saturday in Houston.

"Everything is tough when you have been losing," he said. "For us, our character is going to really come out as far as what type of character we have as individuals and as a team.

"We have just got to fight it, continue to be positive and go out there and play the way we know we are capable of playing."

Quick shots

- Scott said the players who were late for Wednesday's game -- there could be as many as eight of them -- will be fined. Players ran into blizzard-like conditions in the downtown area heading to Quicken Loans Arena. Some parked their cars on city streets and walked to the arena. Even radio announcer Jim Chones didn't arrive until 5 minutes into the first quarter of the Bulls game.

- Rookie guard Manny Harris scored six points and had two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 21 minutes against the Bulls. He also turned the ball over twice, once when Bulls guard Ronnie Brewer just took it from him. "I thought Manny played extremely well," Scott said. "He gave us exactly what we wanted. He was real good on the defensive end and getting after people. He took the shots when he had them, and he didn't really force anything."

- Centers Anderson Varejao and Joakim Noah really went at it in Wednesday's game. Both had big nights. Varejao had 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Noah had 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Varejao was 7 of 7 from the field. He's the third player in franchise history to make at least seven field goals without a miss (10 for 10 at Philadelphia on Nov. 5) twice in one season. Tyrone Hill did it in 1996 and Luther Rackley in 1970. The last NBA player to accomplish this feat is Memphis center Marc Gasol in 2009.